5 Types of Sensory Play: Best Tools and Toys for Every Sense
Every child experiences the world through their senses — touch, sight, sound, movement, and body awareness. For children with autism or sensory processing needs, sensory play isn’t just fun; it’s essential for learning, focus, and emotional regulation.
If you’re a teacher, therapist, or parent looking to build a sensory-friendly environment, understanding these five types of sensory play — and choosing the right sensory tools — can make all the difference. Let’s explore each type and the best products from The Sensory Supply that bring them to life.
Tactile Play — The Power of Touch
Tactile sensory play engages a child’s sense of touch through different textures and materials. It helps improve focus, fine motor skills, and emotional calm.
Top Picks:
AHS Marvelous Sensory Marble Wall Panel
A wall-mounted tactile and visual panel featuring rotating marbles under a smooth surface. Children can push and feel movement while watching the colour and motion change, making it ideal for tactile seeking, calming, and engagement. The sensory wall panels space-efficient and works in classroom sensory corners or therapy rooms for quick resets or focused tactile stimulation.
IGLU Soft Play Square Ball Pit
A soft-play cube filled with colourful balls, offering immersive tactile play for children who love to dive in, grab, and roll in tactile input. It also supports proprioceptive feedback as children move, reach, and feel the sensory balls around them—great for learners who seek texture and movement together.
Visual Play — Calming Through Sight
Visual sensory tools stimulate the eyes with light, color, and motion. These tools can reduce anxiety, improve concentration, ad create a soothing atmosphere in classrooms or therapy spaces.
Top Picks:
TTS Giant Illuminated Mark-Making Board
A large illuminated board that lights up as children draw or mark on it. This visual tool combines motor skills and visual feedback, which is excellent for focused tasks, creativity, and attention-building in the classroom. The changing light offers a sense of reward and helps sustain engagement for visual learners.
TTS Glow Stacking Discs
Stackable discs that glow when activated—this product blends tactile play with visual feedback. It’s ideal for small group activities, sensory tables, or as a calming visual-tactile tool during transitions when children need something quiet but engaging.
Auditory Play — Learning Through Sound
Sounds can either calm or stimulate, depending on the child’s needs. Auditory sensory play helps with listening, communication, and sound differentiation.
Top Picks:
Ara Musique The Ara
A programmable music box combining tactile, auditory and cognitive stimulation. Children draw melodies or codes and hear the results, integrating sound with touch and creativity. This tool supports auditory learners and enhances engagement in classroom music or sensory activities.
Experia LED Sound-to-Light Panel
This panel converts sound into colour-changing light effects — a wonderful tool for linking auditory input to visual feedback, helping children make connections between sound and sight and supporting sensory integration in a fun way.
Vestibular Play — Movement and Balance
Vestibular play focuses on balance, motion, and spatial orientation. These activities help children build coordination and body control — essential for confidence and focus.
Top Picks:
Southpaw Itinerant Support Frame
A robust frame structure allowing for swings, ropes or other suspended equipment. This tool supports movement, balance and vestibular input in a classroom or therapy setting where active play is needed. It can help children regulate their sensory system through safe but dynamic motion.
Tumbl Trak Folding Incline Mat
A foldable incline mat perfect for rolling, crawling, or inclined movement activities. Ideal for vestibular stimulation in limited space settings—kids can climb, roll, slide and transition between movement and seating tasks easily.
Proprioceptive Play — Building Body Awareness
Proprioceptive play helps children understand where their body is in space through deep pressure and resistance activities. It’s incredibly beneficial for calming and focus.
Top Picks:
Power Wearhouse ProPower Compression Vest for Kids
A wearable tool offering gentle deep-pressure input to the torso which supports body awareness, focus, and self-regulation. Excellent for children who benefit from proprioceptive feedback while working, seated or during transitions in class.
Southpaw Steamroller Ramp Platform Set
A ramp and platform set designed for rolling, climbing or crawling activities that provide strong proprioceptive input into limbs and body. Ideal for therapy rooms or active classrooms where structured movement tasks help children regain focus.
Bring Every Sense to Life
From touch to sound to movement, sensory play opens up a world of calm, focus, and learning for every child. With the right tools, teachers and therapists can create inclusive spaces that support emotional regulation and engagement — one sense at a time.
Explore more sensory tools and kits at The Sensory Supply and build a classroom or therapy space that truly supports every child’s sensory journey.